Very First Pre-Production Ford Mustang Coupe Headed to Auction With No Reserve

The first Ford Mustang ever built with a hard top is headed to the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction in January. This Mustang with a VIN ending in 00002 is the earliest Mustang in private hands with the 00001 convertible being on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

The Mustang that’s going up for sale is painted in Caspian Blue and has a few quirks that make it stand out as a pre-production model. The most notable difference from a regular 1964.5 ‘Stang is its straight shift lever—the other changes include stampings and welds throughout the car that aren’t quite the same as what’s on the mass-produced versions.

The car is numbers matching and it’s powered by a 170 cubic-inch Thriftpower inline-six linked to a three-speed manual transmission. This engine was only used in 1964 model year examples and made low performance numbers in comparison to later pony cars with 105 horsepower and 156 pound-feet of torque.

Like the first Mustang ever built, this one was meant to be a display piece and wasn’t intended to be sold publicly. Due to a mixup in transportation, the soon-to-be-auctioned Ford ended up at the wrong dealer in the Yukon Territory of Canada and was sold like it was any other Mustang. According to the listing, it's had more than a dozen different owners over the years.

Despite having the worst engine available in a first-gen Mustang, this coupe should fetch a pretty high price for its historical significance. Bob Fria, the car’s owner for the last 20 years, tried to sell it two years ago, but the highest bid of $300,000 didn’t meet the reserve. Could this Mustang’s value cross the half-million dollar mark?